


Threshold

by Reuben Southworth (wingblade)



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Character Study, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-08 16:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/763612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingblade/pseuds/Reuben%20Southworth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nero's alone time never felt so utterly okay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Threshold

**Author's Note:**

> Comfort ficlet, of sorts. 
> 
> Re-posted from Fanfiction.net (January 18th, 2011). Edited November 1st, 2017.

Lying down, curled up in such a way, makes Nero feel almost powerless.  His body feels so long and awkward — an adolescent's nearing adulthood — but in his mind, when he reclines like this, he feels so young; so untouched, so pure  .  His conscience drives him to this state when he feels wronged; when he doesn't kill demons quick enough and people complain, or someone ends up hurt because there are too many demons and he can't stop them all in time, or Kyrie gives him that look  .  The look that's set in stone, but one the giver attempts to soften the guilting blow with a slight twinge of a smile; the look that says, "I love you, so much, but I expected better from you  . You  really  screwed up."

It had all started after Dante had come, hadn't it?  Now all a sudden Nero feels like he has to achieve a stupendous amount: save everyone — save everyone with ease — and save everyone in style, like how Dante seems to do so   effortlessly  . It was Dante who gave him his threshold camp, too, wasn't it? Dante had destroyed the Hell Gates, and in front of the crumbled plaques is where Nero lies.  At first he thought it was because the Hell Gates were far away from the people of Fortuna — if they intended to repair Fortuna Castle and the border-lying villages, they had overlooked them, or had yet to make their way to fixing them .

Nero is glad for this, more than he could ever know.  Because he feels so true in front of the broken markers; he feels so angry and frustrated, and yet sane from the recluse . Why does everyone try to make him feel like he's the bad one? Because he has the arm of a demon, and demonic blood running through his veins? Because he couldn't save Credo? Because he isn't as good as Dante?

No, the real reason why the Hell Gates seem to bring so much comfort is because Nero sees them as a door.  They are doors from the world of humans, straight into that of the demons, albeit destroyed and inaccessible at the moment  .  And no matter how oblivious to the truth he is, he  was raised  a human, despite his arm, and Dante — although half-demon, half-human — seems all the more demonic, at least far more than Nero himself  .  Their first meeting, after all, had been Nero the human, trying to save the people of Fortuna from Dante the devil, and as they say, first impressions tend to stick . So Nero likes to think of it like that, and in this way, he justifies why he hasn't gone to see Dante:

_You're right here. After all, you're right here… right, old man?_

Once he's said this in his mind — once he's scratched his nails into the dirt as he pushes his body to stand — he's ready to start a new day.


End file.
